Impact sourcing (often termed socially responsible outsourcing) is a strategic approach within the BPO industry that focuses on employing individuals from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. Despite its advantages, a lingering misconception persists that impact sourcing prioritizes quantity over quality, leading to low-cost, low-value services rendered by employees from impact sourcing backgrounds. This couldn’t be further from the truth: impact sourcing benefits not only employees, but also BPO operators, their clients and their customers. It’s high time to deconstruct and disprove this notion and showcase the genuine business value and positive contribution that impact sourcing brings to the greater BPO industry.
The Case for Impact Sourcing in BPO (Business Benefits)
There’s a lingering misconception that impact sourcing is simply dressed up “outreach” or “charity” initiatives spearheaded by businesses looking to meet certain ESG targets. While impact sourcing does create a ripple effect of positive benefits in the communities it operates, there are compelling and tangible business benefits to harnessing impact sourcing as an employee recruitment and retention strategy.
As the saying goes, “talent is equally distributed, opportunity is not”. Impact sourcing focuses on identifying high-potential untapped talent. By focusing on marginalised communities, companies can access a vast pool of talent that has traditionally been overlooked. This approach not only diversifies the workforce but also brings in unique perspectives that can drive innovation and problem-solving.
Employees hired through impact sourcing programmes are also more likely to remain in their roles. Studies have shown that impact workers exhibit 15–40% lower attrition rates compared to agents hired through traditional hiring methods. It makes sense that these agents would want to remain too, as the opportunity creates a stable, consistent work environment for them. This stability reduces ongoing hiring and training costs.
Individuals hired through impact sourcing often demonstrate high motivation levels. They want to succeed in the long-term and grow in their roles, improving their performance over time. Their commitment can result in better customer interactions, as they bring greater empathy, focus and dedication to their roles.
Transforming Lives While Adding Value
Beyond business metrics, impact sourcing plays a pivotal role in transforming the lives and livelihoods of underserved members of society, giving them the opportunity to thrive and, in turn, contribute to societal development.
By providing employment to underserved populations, impact sourcing injects income into communities, stimulating local economies and reducing poverty levels.
Through highly-focused training and upskilling, agents gain valuable skills and work experience, enhancing their employability and opening doors to future growth opportunities within BPO organisations. This investment in their skills development has a ripple effect. It not only uplifts these individuals, but also their families and greater communities. It doesn’t just have a singular impact, it creates a generational impact that can change the course of the future for so many other people.
How Nutun is Driving Change and Adding Value Through Impact Sourcing
At Nutun, we’re proud of our commitment to impact sourcing: a significant proportion of all of our new recruits come from impact sourcing initiatives.
For example, our Shadow Careers program enrolls young South Africans that have an education but were not able to get further education due to their financial background. Shadow Careers, over a three month training program, equips them with the skills and knowledge necessary to integrate them into the BPO sector and offering them a foundation to build successful, meaningful careers.
Our in-house training programme, Strive Academy, focuses on developing workplace readiness skills, foundational training for customer-facing BPO roles, as well as personal growth and performance management. It ensures that our recruits are well-prepared to excel in their roles, fostering a culture of excellence.
Our One Agent, One Child programme extends to community upliftment to support literacy rates among South Africa’s school children. For qualified agents servicing an international client, Nutun sponsors and supports one-on-one literacy training for school children, boosting their reading capabilities and self-confidence.
Through these initiatives, we’ve produced some incredible results: In 2024, we provided literacy training to 1 444 school children across the country through One Agent, One Child, welcomed 155 new graduates from Shadow Careers and created 215 new jobs from Strive Academy. We’re committed to exceeding these results in 2025 and beyond because we believe in creating business solutions that support everyone, from our clients and their customers, to our colleagues and their communities.
Success Lies in Selecting the Right Partner
If you had doubts or misconceptions about impact sourcing before, you’ll see the demonstrable value it brings now. But, not all impact sourcing initiatives are built the same and produce the same results. Seeing success from impact sourcing hinges on selecting a BPO partner that’s transparent about its impact sourcing programmes and eager to showcase the measurable results their programmes have achieved. Transparency and a willingness to communicate and showcase the tangible benefits of their impact sourcing is key when it comes to vetting and selecting an ideal BPO and impact sourcing partner.
